Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Anarchist Soccer Mom Goes to Washington

I hope Congress can give themselves a facelift and pass mentalhealth reform legislation that will help children and families!

Lessons in Speaking Up—and Listening

I’m a mom. What that means for me, as it means for so many
moms, is that I rarely think of myself first. When I have to choose between hearing
the President of the United States speak in my hometown or picking up my kids
from school, I pick up my kids. When I’m cooking dinner, I fix their favorite canned
tuna and white rice instead of the lamb curry vindaloo and brown rice I would
prefer to eat. Rather than spending money on spa treatments for me, I buy
soccer camps or ice skating lessons for them.

But this week, I did something all for me. I bought a last
minute plane ticket from Boise, Idaho to Washington, D.C. and flew into the
outer edges of Winter Storm Juno to attend the presentation of the well-deserved
Treatment Advocacy Center E.F. Torrey Award to Representative Tim Murphy
(R-PA), a man I and many other families of children with mental illness view as
a hero.

Two years ago, in a gut-wrenching response to the Newtown
tragedy, I told our family’s painful story on my formerly anonymous blog. My
essay was picked up by Boise State University’s The Blue Review and retitled as
“I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother” (thanks, @paleomedia). Overnight, I became an accidental
advocate for mental illness, speaking up for families and children everywhere
who could not find anyone to listen to their stories. Then I wrote a book, The Price of Silence, telling some of those
families’ stories, describing the numerous barriers to care that we face, and
identifying solutions that already exist in some communities.

Now, it seems that lots of people are talking about mental
illness, and that’s a good thing. But I wonder if people are listening.

Every day, there’s another tragedy in my Twitter feed: a
father (or mother) tosses a child from a bridge, a mother attempts to kill herchildren, an estranged boyfriend kills a woman and her daughter, a police
officer shoots a 17-year old girl. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people with
mental illness suffer on the streets while millions more languish in prison.
Meanwhile, states slash mental health budgets, and families continue to live onthe brink, as they did 15 years ago.

Today in his acceptance speech, I heard Representative Murphy
offer, once again, a vision of hope. He talked about the need for better
options, from early intervention to peer support to assisted outpatient
treatment that can keep people with serious mental illness in the community and
out of prison. As National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel and
American Psychiatric Association President Paul Summergrad looked on, Representative
Murphy encouraged research into new treatments that can help people with
serious mental illness live productive, happy lives. He talked about ending
discriminatory regulations that prevent people with mental illness from seeing
a physical doctor and a mental health specialist on the same day and about expanded
inpatient treatment options (instead of jail) for those who desperately need
them.

I have to admit that one thing made me especially glad: in
discussing his proposed new legislation, it seems like Representative Murphy is
listening. And that’s important. But has one advocate noted, the voices of
people who have serious mental illness are important too.

How do we hear the voices that serious mental illness has
silenced? How do we ensure that we do not merely “bring back the asylums,” as
one recent provocative JAMA article proposed, but that we create comprehensive
services for individuals, families, and communities?

The word “advocate” means to speak up for something you
believe in. But sometimes, advocacy also means respectfully listening to people
who disagree with you. That’s a lesson our current Congress needs to learn. I
hope that the Capitol’s denizens can repair their rifts (as the building itself
gets a facelift) during this next session. It has become very easy in this
world of fast information to tune out voices that disagree. But as a scholar
and as an advocate, I prefer to surround myself with the voices of people who
think about these complex problems in different ways. I do not feel threatened
by other advocates who see these problems—and their solutions—differently than
I do.

But one thing I think we all agree on is this: the current mental
health care system is broken. We see the proof in our suicide and incarceration
rates. Barriers to mental health care—however you define it—are massive and
omnipresent. As one of my opposition-minded friends noted, whatever you think
of Representative Murphy’s proposed legislation, at least he got us all talking
about the problem. No bill, however well-intentioned, is ever perfect. But I
applaud Representative Murphy for rising once again to the challenge of
bringing our different voices together in a clarion call for change and hope. Let
2015 be the year we can listen to each other—and by listening, learn to help
each other and those among us who suffer most.

P.S. Thanks to a supportive and amazing spouse who got the
kids to school, fixed their dinner, and supported me in this once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. Love you, Babe!

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who couldn't discover anybody to listen to their stories. At that point I composed a book, The Price of Silence, letting some know of those families' stories, depicting the various hindrances to care that we confront, and distinguishing arrangements that as of now exist in a few groups

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About Me

Liza Long, aka the Anarchist Soccer Mom, is a writer, educator, mental health advocate, and mother of four children. She loves her Steinway, her husband, her kids,and her day job, not necessarily in that order. Her book "The Price of Silence: A Mom's Perspective on Mental Illness" from Hudson Street Press is available in bookstores and online. The views expressed on this blog are entirely her own and in no way reflect the views of her employer (or anyone else, for that matter).